Thousands of people were pressing against Jesus while He was making His way to Jairus’ house to pray for his gravely sick daughter. They all wanted to get a glimpse of the Man who could heal the sick and do wonders. Perhaps they would hear Him say something important, or better yet, see Him perform a miracle.

And then, all of a sudden, Jesus raised His voice and asked the multitude, “Who touched Me?” (Luke 8:45) His disciples could hardly believe Jesus would ask such a question since everybody was crowding around Him. Yet Jesus said, “Somebody touched Me, for I perceived power going out from Me” (Luke 8:46). Jesus was looking for one individual that touched Him differently than all the others—someone who touched Him with faith.

Finally, a lady came forward trembling and telling her tragic story of how she suffered 12 years from hemorrhage, and no one could help her. Hearing that Jesus was passing by, she said to herself: “If only I may touch His garment, I shall be made well” (Matthew 9:21). And when she did, she was instantly healed.

Jesus responded to her: “Daughter, . . . your faith has made you well. Go in peace” (Luke 8:48).

The only weapon this dear woman had against her hopeless sickness was her faith that Jesus can do the impossible.

God Responds to Faith

This account from the Gospels teaches us a very important truth about our Heavenly Father:

Though we are surrounded by more than 7 billion people on earth, we are not lost to His attention. He knows us and the needs we have, and He will stop in His tracks to respond when we touch Him in faith.

Faith is the one thing God is looking for.

In fact, Hebrews 11:6 tells us: “Without faith it is impossible to please Him.”

Hebrews 11 was written for our sake so we can learn from people like Noah, Abraham, Moses and a host of others on how to believe God to do the impossible on our behalf.

When God told Noah to build an ark because a flood would come and destroy every living thing on earth, Noah had no other weapon for his survival than his faith. So far, no human being had ever seen a drop of rain falling from the sky, much less a flood. For the next 120 years, while Noah was working on the ark, he must have told himself every day: “God has already figured everything out regarding the flood and my family’s survival. I don’t need to worry how He is going to pull this off. I believe He can do the impossible.”

This Life of Faith is a Journey

So often we quit believing God to intervene in a hopeless situation we face or to fulfill a promise from His Word because we can’t figure out how it could be possible.

Abraham too had to use the weapon of faith to receive the promises God made to Him. It started when God asked him to leave his home and all the securities he knew and travel to a land He was going to show him. Abraham’s family and friends must have thought he had lost his mind to set out on a long and dangerous journey without knowing the final destination. But Abraham had heard God’s voice, and he put his faith in Him to lead him one step at a time.

Abraham’s journey of faith continued throughout his life. He had to keep on believing until he was 100 years old to get Isaac, the son God promised him 25 years earlier.

As we read Abraham’s story, we find the man was not perfect. He made some stupid detours, lied a few times and had several miserable failures. But through it all, he never quit believing God. And God never walked away from him. He took the detours and failures and turned them into valuable learning experiences that deepened Abraham’s understanding of God and his trust in Him.

Finally, we see Abraham as the Father of Faith willing to sacrifice Isaac on Mount Moriah, able to believe that God would do the impossible and raise his son from the dead.

God wants to tell us through Abraham’s story that He does not expect perfection from us; He expects faith that doesn’t quit and faith that believes God will do what He promised no matter how many mistakes we make on our journey.

My dear friend, our greatest weapon in the face of discouragement, sin, failures, regrets and impossible circumstances is our faith that believes all things are possible with God.

Whatever steep mountains you are up against in your life, I urge you to come to Jesus and touch Him in faith, and He will do for you what He promised in His Word.